The latest on the burning Kuga issue

Concerned from Carletonville wrote to SuperSpark about the latest status of the Ford Kuga flaming saga.

He writes

Dear SuperSpark,

Much has been written about the Ford Kuga models that have caught fire. Do you know what the latest status is?

SuperSpark replies:

Dear Concerned,

Ford SA has recently announced a massive recall of some of its Kuga models.

The company is asking owners of some of the 1.6L Kugas built between December 2012 – February 2014 to contact customer services urgently.

Ford SA has issued the recall after approximately 46 vehicles burst into flames since last year.

The decision to recall has been confirmed by the National Consumer Commission.

At a media briefing in Pretoria, Ford Middle East and Africa CEO, Jeff Nemeth explained the root cause of the fires, saying that current data pointed to overheating caused by a lack of coolant circulation. He said this could lead to cracking in the cylinder head, and therefore a subsequent oil leak.

Nemeth said if the leaking oil reached a hot engine component, it could potentially catch fire.

Nemeth said that their investigation has narrowed the number of vehicles for the voluntary safety recall from an originally stated figure of 6,300 vehicles, to 4,556 affected vehicles. Other Kuga engine derivatives, including the 1.5L and 2L models are not affected.

He added that with this safety recall, all affected vehicles including those that had already been checked as part of Ford's maintenance check, must be taken to a Ford dealer as soon as possible.

"We are making every effort to minimise inconvenience … however we will need support of customers to complete this process and we thank them in advance for their understanding," Nemeth said, adding that arrangements would be made through various Ford dealers or Ford's customer service centre to provide courtesy cars while the affected Kugas were being repaired.

Please check on when you may have sold one of the affected models and be sure to notify your client/s to take their Kuga to the nearest Ford dealer..
 
Hope this helps, dear Concerned?

Gotta fly!

Best,

SuperSpark

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